Geschichte des Urheberrechts: „copyright maximalism“

Montag, 16. Juni 2008, von Christiane Müller

Rasmus Fleischer liefert in der aktuellen Ausgabe des amerikanischen Magazins Cato Unbound eine kritische Betrachtung der Entwicklung des Urheberrechts. Obwohl der Autor Sprecher der schwedischen Anti-Copyright-Organistaion Piratbyrån ist, stellt er klar:

How relevant is it to declare oneself to be “for” or “against” copyright? Neither the stabilization nor the abolition of the copyright system seems within reach. (...) The real dispute (...) is not between proponents and opponents of copyright as a whole. It is between believers and non-believers. Believers in copyright keep dreaming about building a digital simulation of a 20th-century copyright economy, based on scarcity and with distinct limits between broadcasting and unit sales.

Der Artikel schildert, wie in den letzten Jahren immer mehr und weitergehende Gesetze erlassen wurden, um vor allem auch digitalisierte Inhalte zu kontrollieren:

Every broken regulation brings a cry for at least one new regulation even more sweepingly worded than the last. Copyright law in the 21st century tends to be less concerned about concrete cases of infringement, and more about criminalizing entire technologies because of their potential uses. This development undermines the freedom of choice that Creative Commons licenses are meant to realize. It will also have seriously chilling effects on innovation, as the legal status of new technologies will always be uncertain under ever more invasive rules.